Food for thought
by Wxnderland
Summary: Ren Kougyoku doesn't like dinner time but it turns out Judal is pretty good company. Childhood AU Jukou oneshot


**A/N: I love Jukou so much. I will go down with this ship.**

 **Rating: K because they're just kids in this one-shot**

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Ren Kougyoku has always despised dinner time

Breakfast, she could handle. Miso soup, fried eggs, fruits. All incredibly delicious options that she found herself in absolute bliss with.

Lunch? It was harder, but she was still up to the task of delicious curry rice, bentos, and the occasional ramen. It was easier not to mess up, or do anything embarrassing since the older siblings like Kouen and Koumei had more lessons to go over, so they sometimes had different lunch hours.

But dinner? It was brutal.

Unbearable, even

In short, Ren Kougyoku has always hated eating her greens.

The magenta haired child didn't know what it was- maybe it was the colour. Maybe it was because the piece of broccoli she was looking down upon strongly resembled some sort of weird fungus to her. Maybe, it was because carrots had the word 'rot' in it.

Or maybe, it was just because it tasted gross

Either way, she hated vegetables with a passion.

It sucked though. She was the eighth princess of the Kou Empire, and she couldn't even handle a tomato?

It was sort of lame

Kougyoku found herself frowning behind her long sleeves as she stared distastefully towards her meal. She could feel her cheeks heat up in embarrassment as she watched the rest of her siblings and family members consume their own meals.

Hell- even Kouha was chowing down normally, and he was literally the most destructive and troublesome in the family.

What the heck was up with that?

Ugh. Curse her and her sweet tooth.

"What's the matter, Kougyoku?" Hakuei asked, raising a delicate eyebrow up in concern towards her youngest half-sister.

The ten year old felt her cheeks heat up even more- oh no, did Kouen just glance at her?

Kougyoku smiled "Nothing, I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

She was already known as 'the whore's daughter'. She really didn't need to have troublemaker added onto that list.

She still felt Hakuei's eyes on her as she hesitantly let her sleeves drop from her face. She grabbed a hold of her utensils and internally winced as she took a bite out of her salad.

The magenta haired girl wouldn't have been surprised if her eyes had watered. What the heck could they have possibly placed in this meal to have caused it to taste so vile?

Grabbing a hold of the glass, the princess found herself to drown the liquid down, while the rest of her family went back towards their general discussions.

Placing the glass back down, Kougyoku grimaced back at her plate, realising that she still had so much food left over before changing her expression back to neutral.

Oh gods. The expectations in this family were way too high if she was predicted to stay level headed in front of the monstrosity that the chefs had dared deemed as 'food'

Reluctantly, she picked up the utensils once again, Kougyoku willed herself to stay strong in this one sided battle. She idly reached towards a piece of steamed ginger before freezing.

A peach the size of her fist came slowly rolling towards her plate, before gently bumping into it and stopping.

A peach

She instantly gazed upwards, Intent on finding whatever God was up there that had been generous enough to ease her suffering.

She was met with the advanced interior of her ceiling

Superb

Her rose coloured eyes then glanced around the table in case anyone had seen her little miraculous moment.

…By the way that they were still discussing Kouha's destructive nature, she assumed not.

A small smile made its way onto her features as her eyes lit up when she brought the sweet up towards her mouth to take a bite. She almost let out a cry of joy as her taste buds sang in delight.

She quickly scarfed down the fruit in around four giant bites behind her sleeves before placing the pit on the edge of her half eaten plate.

Now, if only the gods would be so benevolent as to make the disgusting garbage that was named food off of her plate then it would all be swell.

…Maybe she was hoping for too much. Ka Koubun did say that she was way too optimistic for her own good.

Whatever that meant.

Well, if they weren't able to empty her plate, could they at least give her another peach?

Please? She was starving here!

She stared intently at where her peach had first stood, right next to her plate.

Five seconds…ten seconds…twenty seconds…forty seconds…forty five-

Her eyes lit up immensely as another peach came rolling slowly towards her and she grabbed it off the table.

Kougyoku then glanced around the table- her eyes skimmed until finally-

Her Pink orbs found red ringed eyes-

Wait a second- she knew those eyes

…no freaking way. JUDAL!?

The boy grinned at her from across the table as her jaw dropped before taking a bite out of the same fruit from the hand he had, hidden under the table.

Judal of all people was her saviour?

A small smile worked its way onto her features, and if anything, this in turn caused Judar's grin to widen as she took a mouthful out of the fruit.

As quickly as the first time, she easily scarfed down the treat within seconds before wiping her mouth with a napkin and placing the pit right beside the first on her plate.

Judal then looked down towards his plate filled with vegetables and let out an exaggerated face of disgust.

Kougyoku giggled quietly behind her sleeves before showing an equal expression of distaste towards the dish.

But could you blame them? In all honestly it seemed like herself and Judar were the only sane people present at the table.

Heck, even Hakuryuu- the youngest out of her and her siblings was close to finishing his meal without any problems.

Hakuryuu

Judal seemed to have been having the same train of thought as he squinted in disbelief towards Hakuryuu while the rest of the family weren't paying attention, far too fixated with their discussions concerning the Empire.

Kougyoku found herself snickering behind her sleeves once again as their eyes met and Judal smirked once more.

This was…nice. Usually, Kougyoku found herself avoiding anyone and everyone who weren't the staff due to their high statuses. Hell, even so much as being around the whore's daughter was probably a blow to anyone's reputation-

So in other words, her family

But Judal wasn't even a part of her family- he was a magi. He had a seriously high status from what she was aware of, and he was usually around Kouen and Koumei from what she had seen.

Her cheeks flushed as she realised that this was probably their first time actually communicating with each other, despite her being at a much closer age to him than any of the other siblings, since she was only a year younger- If not, they were probably the same age.

Though, to be fair she had been doing U-turns whenever she came across the direction of someone who didn't work for her household, Judal included

Pink eyes then widened as the maids came around to collect the eaten food and empty dishes- or in her case, half empty dishes away.

She glanced up, around the table to see everyone seated were already wiping their faces with their napkins and saying their farewells.

She blinked slowly, in stupor as someone pulled her chair back so that she could stand and like a switch, her expression altered from dazed to bored.

Kougyoku held her fan in front of her face and made her way towards the bathroom to wash her hands.

A smile rested on her features as she places her fan down and turned the tap on, lathering her hands with soap before running them under the water dispensed.

Dinner had been fun- granted, she only ate about three and a half bites of the actual main course and two peaches but still. She got to interact with someone who wasn't hired too, and she maybe, possibly, potentially made a friend?

Perchance?

"Hey,"

She bit her lower lip. Maybe it was too much to hope for, she was a whore's daughter who just got lucky and he was born as a god- untouchable.

He was a magi

"Hey!"

Was she even allowed to speak to him? Or did his will overturn the emperor's? They really didn't make it clear when she first moved here.

"Oi!" letting out a squeal, Kougyoku's head snapped towards him with wide, frantic eyes.

"W-what!?"

Judal smirked, satisfied to finally receive a reaction as he was seated beside the sink on the aisle "What are you, deaf? I've been calling you for a while, old hag."

Oh, was she really that out of it-

Wait,

OLD HAG?!

"I'm the same age as you!" she gaffed, turning her entire body around just to face him

He snickered "yeah, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night" he turned the tap off before jumping off.

"How did you even-"she looked back and forth between him and the aisle in disbelief

"Were you just sitting there before I got here, or did you just sit there while I was washing my hands?"

He shrugged "first option, at first I was hoping to scare you or something but you just strode in, completely unaware of my presence"

"Whoa- seriously? How the heck is that even possible" she wondered before shrugging the matter off

"Yeah, okay anyway. How'd you like the peaches?" he asked, grinning widely

Kougyoku immediately brightened up "Oh yeah, that was you! Man, you're a lifesaver."

"Heh, well don't thank me yet pinkie. You owe me" Judal said, triumphantly

Kougyoku felt her right eye twitch "like what?"

In response, he grabbed her hand, lading her down the infinite hallways, ignoring her protests before dragging her into his room.

Kougyoku blinked "You could've just asked"

"Where'd be the fun in that?"

She pulled a face, ready to admonish before coming face to face with an eyeshadow palate.

"Wha—"

"You know how to use this thing, right?" Judal asked, eager

"I-I mean, I guess? Hakuei usually does it for me though"

"Great!" he shoved it into her hands and sat in front of her, expectantly.

Kougyoku stood, dazed

"Well?" the boy asked, irritated

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards, before she shut the door behind them and sat down onto her knees, opening the palate and grabbing the brushes deemed appropriate for the task.

"…Hey, isn't this palette Hakuei's?"

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 **A/N: I'm still strangely obsessed with this pair. I absolutely adore them both and ship them with every fibre in my being!**

 **Thanks for reading! Till next time, my lovelies!**

 **R AND R!**


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